Beware of what preschoolers see on TV

May 8, 2013

Being choosy when it comes to TV shows, what preschoolers watch affects their behavior even if the amount of time they spend watching isn't reduced.

In one of the largest studies to examine how modifying television contest affects the development children ages 3 to 5, researchers reported that six months after families reduced their children's exposure to aggressive and violence filled programming and increased exposure to enriching and educational programming, even without changing the number of viewing hours, youngsters showed significantly improved behavior compared to children whose media diet went unchanged.

Many families who changed their children's exposure to aggressive and violence filled programming noticed a big improvement such as a decline in aggression and being difficult.

Parents must remember that young children learn by imitating what they see.

Television content is important and does not get much attention.

However much of what your children watch, it is worth the parents' efforts to be more selective. It is hard for a young child to distinguish realty vs. fantasy in TV shows.

Better TV content increases healthy social behaviors such as empathy, helpfulness and concern for others.

Again, young children imitate what they see and for preschoolers a lot of what they see is on television and has an influence on their behavior at home and when they start school.